This invention relates to a wheel handling apparatus and more particularly to an apparatus for handling vehicle wheels and treating them prior to the mounting of a tire thereon.
Automated equipment has been proposed for mounting tires on vehicle wheels and for inflating them. Such apparatus must be capable of handling a wide variety of wheel sizes and types and corresponding tire sizes and types. With such apparatus, a wheel is moved through a plurality of stations wherein different steps in the tire mounting process are accomplished. In connection with such arrangements, it is desirable to provide a mechanism for removing wheels from a conveyor and moving them into a station where an operation can be performed and then returning them to the conveyor. As noted above, such apparatus should be capable of handling a wide variety of wheel sizes and types.
It is, therefore, a first object of this invention to provide an improved wheel handling device for an automated wheel line.
It is another object of this invention to provide a wheel handling apparatus that is adapted to engage a wheel on a conveyor and lift the wheel from the conveyor into a station where work may be performed on it.
One of the more important steps in mounting tires on wheels involves the soaping of the wheel prior to mounting of the tire onto it. Soaping lubricates the wheel so that the tire will not be damaged when it is mounted and so that it will properly engage the bead seats when it is inflated. Although a variety of devices have been proposed for automatically soaping or lubricating wheels, the previously proposed devices have been relatively complicated in operation and also have not been adaptable to handle a wide variety of wheel sizes and types.
It is, therefore, a still further object of this invention to provide an improved device for soaping wheels.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved arrangement for presenting a wheel to a soaping mechanism and one that is adapted to handle a wide variety of different types of wheels in succession.